Manufacturers
As we’ve come to learn, there’s something special about a ’55 Chevy, particularly when it is fitted with one of the popular Chevy engines that have become so common today. But that’s not the case when the hood is opened on this ’55. It is not the celebrated 265, or one of the more respected LS engines, or even a Chevy big block that captures your attention here. This is something different, and not a Bow Tie at all.
Keith Shuley is a genuine hot rodder and a bona fide car nut. In that respect, he’s no different from any of you reading this article, but what makes him a little different is how he spends his days. Shuley is a Catholic priest and a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, serving as the Command Chaplain aboard the amphibious assault carrier U.S.S. Peleliu, the LHA-5. He spends his days filling the spiritual needs of those sailors, aviators and Marines who help keep our country free. But during his personal time, he fills his own need for speed. What a concept!
Maurice and Lynne Hoover were already the veterans of two wild project car builds—a ’67 El Camino and a ’67 Camaro—when Maurice decided he wanted to build yet another. He says, though, that when he brought up the subject of another project, his wife, Lynne, was not particularly pleased. Maurice went ahead and brought home a ’67 Nova anyway. While in some situations such a move could have worked out for the worse, before long Lynne came to like the car, and the two dove into the project.
There are all kinds of daily drivers: those called drivers because they have a few road miles on them, so they are not considered show cars; and those that are true daily drivers because they represent your only mode of transportation. Most rodders have been there at one time or another, when all we had were our hot rods to drive. The stories are endless about how these cars were transformed from grocery-getter to show car, but it happens. You use the car for family needs throughout the winter months and then clean it up come spring, maybe even paint the fenders, and enter it in a local rod show.
Many people believe that mankind as we know it evolved from primates…not the monkeys that you’d find at your local zoo, but rather from a very basic, upright-walking being that had thought protocols to find food and shelter without getting eaten in the process. The same can be said about the unmodified car, as it’s basically a vehicle to transport its occupants from point A to point B, maybe even with a little style built in if you’re lucky.
Some car guys choose a path to automotive nirvana through the purchase of a car that someone else built or by having a shop build the car of their dreams, but Albert Alvarado is not one of those guys. Like many of us, he doesn’t mind getting grease under his fingernails and overspray in the garage. You see, Alvarado had completed this Bel Air once before. Back in 2004, it was a beautiful red-and-white car, but Alvarado was disappointed by the number of red-and-white Bel Airs he was seeing at all the shows, so he decided to make some drastic changes.
Unless there’s a collector’s car that was purchased and directly put into someone’s collection, you’re probably looking at the lowest-mileage Saleen SSC in the world, and it belongs to Jack Redeker from Redeker Ford in Grand Haven, Michigan.
There are SEMA vehicles, and then there are SEMA vehicles. Do you want an explanation? Okay, all SEMA vehicles are built to show off a company’s part, but some vehicles are “built” with only that part on it and are otherwise stock. While we won’t say that these vehicles are totally a waste of time—some have shown a great deal of imagination—for the most part they don’t capture our attention, nor are they what you would consider to be mainstream vehicles.
In 1969 and 1970, Ford produced a pair of unique vehicles designed with only one purpose in mind: to take back the SCCA Trans-Am series crown from Chevrolet. After stunning success with the ’65-’67 Mustangs, Ford lost the title to Chevy’s Camaro in 1968, and many felt that the car’s “tunnel port” engine was the culprit. Ford drastically rethought its engine program and came up with a legendary solution.
In terms of historic automotive achievements (and there have been many, to be sure), this stylized ’36 Ford roadster will long be remembered for its most human elements. Through them, a vehicle of unparalleled execution—at least to date—regardless of type, style or vintage, has come of age. Only slightly reminiscent of the car it is based upon, the lines expressed through the flowing body and adjoining components, and all of the well-placed details, give one the impression of speed, style and a hint of great classics of the past. And while it may take on a hint of flavor of classics past, the overall concept is entirely its own—a coach-built car done for these modern times.
